Jurors convicted Aimee Bock of fraud Wednesday, bringing some closure to the legal case against the apparent mastermind of the largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the country.
Jurors reached their decision after about five hours of deliberation that followed weeks of testimony in court and years of headlines that drew national attention to Minnesota. They also convicted Salim Said, who was jointly tried with Bock in a trial that started Feb. 3.
Bock, who was Feeding Our Future’s executive director during the fraud, was convicted of all seven criminal counts filed against her — conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery and federal programs bribery.
Salim Said, who co-owned Safari Restaurant at the time, was convicted of all 21 counts filed against him — conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery, federal programs bribery, money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
They hung their heads low as the guilty verdicts were announced about 2:40 p.m. Wednesday, sometimes whispering to their attorneys. Bock shook her head. Afterwards, prosecutors successfully petitioned to arrest them until their sentencing at a later date.
In deciding to detain them, U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel said she was concerned that were they released on their own recognizance, they would manipulate documents to escape the country and avoid sentencing the same way they manipulated documents to conduct fraud.
“Both defendants displayed patterns of deception over an 18-month period, and an absolute inability to comply with authority,” Brasel said.
Bock wiped tears from her eyes as her attorney, Kenneth Udoibok, consoled her. U.S. Marshalls then handcuffed her and Salim Said before escorting them out of the courtroom.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, the case’s lead prosecutor, thanked jurors and his team of investigators in a press conference following the verdicts. Thompson called the Feeding Our Future scheme a “staggering, monumental fraud” that was like “nothing I’d ever seen before.” He said the case “has come to symbolize the problem of fraud in our state.”
“Minnesota has long been known for its good governance and its civic mindedness,” Thompson said. “Sadly, in recent years, that reputation has changed all too often … This became a shame of Minnesota. Hopefully, today’s verdict will help turn the page on this awful chapter in our state’s history.”
Udoibok told reporters after the verdict that he was disappointed with the jury’s decision. Jurors began their deliberations Wednesday morning, and reached their verdicts about 2 p.m.
“There was a mountain of evidence entered by the government and rebutted by us,” Udoibok said. “I can’t believe the jurors reviewed it all in one day.”
He said he had no regrets about how he presented Bock’s defense, including her decision to testify on the witness stand, where she was often defiant with prosecutors and gave testimony that directly contradicted prior testimony from prosecution witnesses.
“At least she told her side of the story,” Udoibok said.
Udoibok added that prosecutors presented evidence that was unrelated to the case against Bock: Three prosecution witnesses testified that they were signed up for Feeding Our Future’s board without their knowledge, and prosecutors presented evidence that Bock’s boyfriend, Empress Watson, profited from the fraud.
Udoibok said he plans to appeal Bock’s conviction, and suggested that he might hand that case off to another attorney. Udoibok has been Bock’s attorney since the FBI raided her home and office in January 2022, among many other sites.
Adrian Montez, the lead defense attorney for Salim Said, declined to comment on the verdicts.
Bock maintained her innocence at trial, testifying that she tried to combat fraud committed by others. Salim Said also testified at trial, saying that his restaurant served thousands of meals, and that his business partner was to blame for any alleged crimes.
The alleged fraud involved Feeding Our Future receiving federal funds through the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE). Feeding Our Future then distributed those funds to food vendors and food sites like Safari Restaurant, which were supposed to provide ready-to-eat meals to local children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Working through Feeding Our Future, several organizations reported serving thousands more meals than they actually did, or never served any at all, in order to receive more federal reimbursement dollars, according to prosecutors.
Bock allegedly took $1.9 million from the federal government, partially by paying her boyfriend roughly $900,000. Bock testified that the payments were for maintenance work on Feeding Our Future’s office. She also allegedly took a $310,000 kickback in exchange for enrolling a nonprofit into the federal food program.
Prosecutors said the businesses Salim Said worked with fraudulently collected around $30 million. They accuse him of receiving $5.5 million and using it to buy a $1 million mansion in Plymouth and several luxury cars. Safari Restaurant was one of the biggest food sites working with Feeding Our Future.
The convictions are a major development in a fraud case that has dominated local and national headlines since FBI agents raided more than a dozen properties across the state on a cold January morning in 2022. Prosecutors presented photos of Bock’s home showing cash and jewelry they said were linked to the fraud.
A total of 70 defendants were charged in the case; Bock and Salim Said’s convictions now bring the number of defendants who were convicted at trial or who pleaded guilty to 44 people.
So much about the Feeding Our Future case was unprecedented. The 2022 raids were the biggest coordinated law enforcement searches in Minnesota history, pulling in more than 200 FBI, IRS and U.S. Postal Service employees. The fraud scheme is the largest in state history, totaling an estimated $250 million.
The first trial in the case was held last year, and was rocked by jury bribery charges filed against three of the trial’s defendants and two alleged conspirators. Early in this most recent trial, another defendant charged in the broader Feeding Our Future case was accused of trying to intimidate a witness who was about to testify.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Ebert seemed exasperated by it all when he gave a rebuttal closing argument Tuesday in Bock and Salim Said’s trial.
“You have the power to end this story,” Ebert implored jurors. “At long last, close the book on the defendants’ godawful fraud.”
The latest convictions, however, are unlikely to be the end of the story, as four more trials are scheduled for several defendants. The cases against other remaining defendants are pending, and could go to trial if they are not resolved through guilty pleas.
Thompson also suggested that his office could charge more defendants in the future.
“We’re never done investigating,” he said.
